Alaska wildlife agents have been given the green light to resume shooting black and brown bears, including from helicopters, as part of a controversial programme aimed at restoring a vital caribou herd.
A judge ruled on Wednesday against two conservation groups, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and Center for Biological Diversity, who sought to halt the cull. Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman stated the groups failed to demonstrate the state lacked a reasonable basis for the plan.
The timing is critical, with the Mulchatna caribou herd in southwest Alaska soon entering its calving season. Newborn calves are particularly vulnerable to predation by bears and wolves, making the state's intervention, they argue, essential for recovery.
This herd, once a crucial food source for Alaska Native hunters, providing up to 4,770 caribou annually, peaked at around 190,000 animals. However, its population plummeted from the late 1990s, reaching approximately 13,000 by 2019. Last year, numbers stood at around 16,280, according to the state Department of Fish and Game, with hunting prohibited since 2021.
The state killed 180 bears from 2023 to 2024, most of them brown bears, plus 11 more last year, according to the conservation groups' lawsuit. The groups argue that the Alaska Board of Game last year authorized reinstating the program without key data on the bears’ population numbers and sustainability.
Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement the groups want to see the caribou herd thrive, “but the state simply hasn’t shown that the unrestrained killing of bears is going to help us get there.”
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“We need to stop this disgraceful waste of the state’s limited resources and work based on science to protect all our wildlife,” Freeman said.
State attorneys have said that officials took a “hard look” at factors related to bear numbers in adopting the plan.
“The herd has persisted at low numbers but started showing a positive response since 2023, when bear removal during calving seasons began,” they wrote in a court filing.
The state Department of Law, which represents the board and Department of Fish and Game, did not immediately return a message seeking comment Wednesday. Attorneys with Trustees for Alaska, representing the conservation groups, are reviewing the ruling and “will consider all available options,” spokesperson Madison Grosvenor said by email.
The program has been the subject of ongoing litigation. A judge last year, in a case previously brought by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, found fault with the process in which it was adopted and concluded the state lacked data on bear sustainability.
Emergency regulations implemented by the state were later struck down. A subsequent public process was announced surrounding plans to reauthorize the program, which the board did last July.
